Brighton Boys in the Radio Service by James R. Driscoll
CHAPTER IV
FAREWELL, UNITED STATES
When the boys arose the following morning, each somewhat stiff and sorefrom the experiences of the night before, it was with a feeling of happyanticipation that made their physical discomforts seem like trivialthings.
For before nightfall the twin screws of the large transport _Everett_would begin to churn the waters of the Delaware, her bow would bepointed down stream, and the great voyage of adventure would be started.
But in the meantime there was much for the lads to learn. Up to thepresent every moment had been occupied to the exclusion of suchinstructions as were absolutely necessary to know, in order that theymight give the best service to their country.
And so they responded early to a summons from the superior officer incharge of men in the Signal Corps at that station. By him they wereinformed of the serious mission upon which they were bound, and of theresponsibilities that would fall upon them should the transport, by anymishap, become separated from its armed convoy.
No message picked up at sea or elsewhere, he told them, was to berepeated to anyone but the superior officer to whom it was directed; andany calls for another vessel or station were to be ignored by them, evenif their aerial should pick the words up.
They were told of the fine loyalty demanded of men in their branch ofthe service, and given some idea of the sacrifices they might be calledupon to make.
"The success of this war," said Major Briggs, "depends upon the courageand ability with which each man in it performs the immediate task beforehim. Whether the whole world shall fall under the iron hand of amerciless tyranny, or the peoples of the various nations may governthemselves in the freedom of democracy, now depends largely upon the menof the United States. We must regard the responsibilities thrust upon usas a glorious opportunity to serve all of mankind."
Thrilled with the nature of the great work ahead of them, Joe, Jerry andSlim hurried down the long length of the navy yard to where the_Everett_ lay moored to her slip, the center of much activity.
Steam already was up, as they could see from the thick black clouds ofsmoke that curled upward from her smokestack. Big cranes, operated bypowerful winches on the vessel and on shore, were hoisting cases ofvarious sizes and shapes upon the lower decks and into the hold. A smallarmy of men helped complete the loading of the ship, and one group wasexperiencing considerable difficulty in trying to persuade unwillingmules to board the transport for Europe.
The boys hurdled over piles of food and ammunition, wended their waythrough scores of stacks of ordnance, and finally over a gang-plank tothe vessel. There they saluted and reported to the officer of the day,who directed them to go at once to the wireless room.
As they entered there Lieutenant Mackinson was busily engaged in "tuningup" his instruments. He stopped when he saw them and reached into aninner pocket, from which he produced three large oblong envelopes. Onewas addressed to each lad, and as they accepted them they saw that eachwas closed to prying eyes by the official seal of Uncle Sam.
Swept by various emotions, the boys stood there gazing first at theenvelopes and then at Lieutenant Mackinson.
"Well," said the lieutenant at last, with an amused smile, "do you wantme to retire while you read your communications?"
"Oh, no, not at all, sir," Joe hastened to say, and as if to prove thestatement all three envelopes were ripped open and the single sheet ofpaper in each drawn forth.
Especially addressed to each lad, the letters were identical and read:
"I hereby convey to you my heartiest congratulations upon the efficient and heroic manner in which you and your two friends discovered and frustrated a plot to conceal enemy ammunition in the vicinity of this naval base. You all displayed true American courage; and I wish you every success for the future."
The letters were signed by the commandant of the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
"Look at that," said Slim, pushing his letter at Lieutenant Mackinson,utterly forgetful of the fact that the other man was his superiorofficer. "Ain't--isn't that fine, though? For the commandant to mentionit that way, I mean."
"Yes," admitted Lieutenant Mackinson, "but he wouldn't have mentionedit that way if you hadn't deserved it."
"I'm not going to lose that letter," announced Jerry.
"Nor I," added Joe, "although we only did what any other fellows wouldhave done under the same circumstances."
"Well," said Lieutenant Mackinson, "it showed that you were to bedepended upon in an emergency, and emergencies are likely to crop up atany time in our work, so let's get down to business."
He immediately began explaining the apparatus of the wireless room--howmessages were sent and received; the power of the batteries and theirauxiliaries; the switch-board regulating voltage; the automaticrecording apparatus--in fact, every detail connected with the intricatemechanism of an up-to-date wireless.
"There was a time," explained Lieutenant Mackinson, "when the sending ofa message almost deafened the sender. It was like being in the midst ofa machine-gun assault. But recent improvements have eliminated that. Youmay see for yourselves."
And the lieutenant tapped off the _Everett's_ own signal call withlittle more sound than is made by the sending of a message with theordinary telegraph instrument.
"We have a sending and receiving radius of from five hundred to eighthundred miles," Lieutenant Mackinson continued. "Of course, it doesn'tcompare with the great wireless station at Radio, Virginia, one of thelargest in the world, where one tower is six hundred feet high and theother four hundred and fifty feet in height, and each charged with twohundred thousand volts, giving a radius of three thousand miles; but itis sufficiently powerful for practically every purpose required at sea."
"Wasn't Marconi a wonderful man?" said Jerry in true admiration.
"Yes, he was; no doubt of that, and he still may contribute much to thescience, for he is not old yet," the young lieutenant answered. "Butstill, full credit must be given where credit is due, and in thatrespect it must be acknowledged that Marconi only assembled andperfected to practicable purposes the discoveries and inventions madebefore his time.
"Radio-telegraphy might be briefly traced in the names of Faraday,Maxwell, Hertz--the discoverer of the Hertzian rays--Righi, Lodge andMarconi. All of them contributed something to the evolvement of thepresent highly efficient and dependable wireless. Marconi should, anddoes, receive great credit; but the others, the pioneers, the realdiscoverers, should not be forgotten or overlooked."
The lieutenant's words threw a new light on the history of the wirelessfor the boys from Brighton, and they were anxious that the officershould tell them more; but at that moment Lieutenant Mackinson caughtthe faint recording of a distant wireless call for another station, fardown the Atlantic coast.
"Here," he said hastily, turning to Joe, who was nearest him, "see ifyou can catch this message."
He slipped the receiving apparatus over Joe's head, and tightened up theear-pieces, then pushed toward him a pad and pencil.
Into Joe's ears came the faint but distinct sounds of a distant call:
-. ... -. ... -. ...
"N S," Joe jotted down on the sheet before him.
"A ship at sea calling Newport News," Lieutenant Mackinson informed theother two, who waited impatiently for Joe to begin recording themessage.
Newport News acknowledged the call, and then the vessel's wirelesscontinued:
.--- .- ... .--. . .-.
And Joe, transcribing, wrote: "JASPER." Following this came:
-.. . - .- .. .-..
The other boys looked on in chagrin, while Lieutenant Mackinson'scountenance took on an amused smile, as Joe wrote down the word"DETAIL," and then nothing else but the initials "N. N.," which endedthe message.
"Don't make sense," announced Slim in a discouraged voice. "You musthave missed part of it."
"No, I didn't," Joe replied, looking anxiously toward the lieutenant.
"I guess he got it
He turned to the J's and ran his finger down the page until he came tothe word "JASPER."
"That means 'We have coaled,'" he said, writing the words out on thepad.
"Oh, it's in code," said Slim apologetically; "I didn't know that."
"DETAIL," the lieutenant announced, finding that word. "'Understand andam following sealed orders'. That's the _North Dakota_. She has coaledat sea and is now starting upon some mission known only to her commanderand the naval authorities."
Almost as he finished speaking the _Everett_ gave a lurch, her whistlewas tooted two or three times, the engines started turning, and the bigboat began to vibrate under the pressure.
There was a shout from the thousand or more who had crowded to theriver's edge, responded to by the fifteen hundred khaki-clad young menwho were lined up at every point of vantage along the vessel's side.
"And we're off, too," shouted Lieutenant Mackinson.
"Hurrah!" cried the three boys from Brighton in the same breath, as theydouble-quicked it behind the lieutenant to the upper deck.
The scene was one to inspire the most miserable slacker. Somewhere inthe upper part of the yard a band was playing Sousa's "Stars and StripesForever." From the windows of the ordnance and other buildings at thelower end of the yard workmen hung forth, waving hats and handkerchiefs,and joining in the shouted well-wishes of those along the shore. Thecrews of every fighting craft in that part of the river sang outfriendly advice to those aboard the transport, and two miles down thechannel could be discerned the smoke from the stacks of the armedconvoys that were to give the _Everett_ safe passage to her destination.
Among those at the water's edge the boys could discern the big form ofSergeant Martin, and even as distance welded them in anindistinguishable mass, they could still see him, towering above theothers, his hat describing wide circles through the air.
"So long, fellows; we'll meet you over there," shouted the men of thelast vessel they passed.
As though by prearrangement the fifteen hundred men on the _Everett_began singing, "I'm Going Over," sang it to the end of the first verse,then stopped, and from a point well down the river could hear those theyhad passed taking up the second stanza.
Hours later, out upon the ocean, the dim lights ashore fading one byone, the fighters for Uncle Sam gave one last, long, lingering look attheir native land. And Jerry, voicing the spirit of all, cried out:
"Farewell, United States."